WW1: The War Begins… | EP 1

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EPISODE ONE 👉 https://youtu.be/IQtMHK-0kC4
EPISODE TWO 👉 https://youtu.be/e0hsvBebNwY
EPISODE THREE 👉 https://youtu.be/9puuDbAdmNg
EPISODE FOUR 👉 https://youtu.be/OKjabkX0UxU
EPISODE FIVE 👉 https://youtu.be/GfM8fTG4Apc
EPISODE SIX 👉 https://youtu.be/lIfoz47dKrw

Following the declaration of war in 1914, how did the outbreak of the First World War unfold? What were the earliest military engagements of this terrible, totemic event? Who were its key political players and how did they respond? What was the attitude to the war in Germany? Were the allies unified from this early stage, or were they suspicious and frozen by indecision? And, how did the Germans, with the mightiest army in all the world, make its move on “plucky little” Belgium?

Join Dominic and Tom as they launch into one of the most consequential events of all time: the outbreak of the First World War.

00:00 – Germany: from peaceful nation to war machine
02:30 – Introduction to WWI series: scope and importance
04:16 – Was Germany uniquely responsible for the war? Historians’ debate
06:12 – Fear versus aggression: German motivations
06:46 – The July Crisis: Sarajevo, blank cheque, Kaiser’s holiday, Austrian ultimatum
08:08 – Helmuth von Moltke the Younger: personality, melancholy, moustaches
12:01 – Germany’s strategic weakness: encirclement fears, manpower and GDP
13:45 – The Schlieffen Plan explained
18:06 – Von Moltke panics
19:00 – Kaiser signs mobilization order; emotional scene in Berlin
22:53 – The problem of Belgian neutrality and Britain’s obligations
23:47 – British cabinet debates: how far into Belgium would justify war?
25:04 – German ultimatum to Belgium: demands for railways and fortresses
26:14 – Belgium rejects ultimatum; King Albert’s defiance
27:59 – “A scrap of paper”: German gaffe fuels British propaganda
28:35 – King Albert’s speech to parliament: “Determined at any cost”
29:52 – Total War Rome (Creative Assembly)
30:37 – German invasion begins
36:18 – German reprisals in Belgium
50:00 – Comparisons with Allied conduct in Ireland, colonies, and elsewhere
50:47 – The Leuven library fire: destruction of manuscripts, global outrage
52:12 – Germany’s reputation collapses: admired culture turned to “barbarism”
53:28 – Fall of Brussels: German army enters the capital

Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook

Animator: Michael Sherdyts – YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/MercenaryCamp
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude
Video Editor: Harry Swan + Jack Meek
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Head of Digital: Sam Oakley
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor